'Bloody tired' Mandela to cut back on workload

Nelson Mandela is to begin a gradual withdrawal from public life it was reported yesterday amid fears for the former South African president's health.

He turns 86 in July, is "bloody tired" and intends to reduce his public appearances in order to continue charity work and finish writing a second instalment of his autobiography, according to a source close to the former president quoted in South African newspapers.

Since standing down as president in 1999, he has maintained a hectic schedule of domestic and overseas appearances. Last week he won a standing ovation at the re-inauguration of Thabo Mbeki. But he was walking with a cane and has looked increasingly frail at public appearances. His once robust frame appears thin.

After the re-inauguration he jetted to the Caribbean, where over the weekend he promoted South Africa's bid to stage the World Cup football tournament in 2010. Earlier this year he organised and hosted an Aids rock concert in Cape Town. His spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment on the reports that he would gradually withdraw from public life.

Mr Mandela's health has been a source of concern. He has fought prostate cancer and bouts of tuberculosis dating back to his 27 years in prison.

The head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, John Samuel, confirmed that the hundreds of public appearances on his diary had become "quite difficult to manage" and would be pared down, but denied that he would withdraw completely: "When Mr Mandela is ready to do so, he will announce his retirement from public life."

The reports came with the news that his first wife, Evelyn, died on Friday at 82. The two married in 1944 and had four children, though two died. As he went into politics, she became a Jehovah's Witness, and they separated in 1955. She worked as a midwife, owned a successful grocery store, and did community work. They did not meet when he was released from prison in 1990, but at the first all-race elections in 1994 she said: "I doubt very much we would have voted today if it were not for Nelson Mandela." In 1998 she married a retired Soweto businessman and Jehovah's Witness.